Been a while... again. I really must apologize for this; not only to the readers (if they still exist), but to Daryl as well for taking such a long time to "get his babies out there," as he had said a while back. Alas, so much has happened. I've taken part in Jormungand's Project VGM and managed to cough out one track (Track No. 29, Melsam, a simple and pastoral town theme) amidst all the toxicity and hospital duties. The track can be viewed here. The rest of the album, which includes tracks from Daryl Banner and from Jormungand himself, can be viewed here. I'm actually up for another track. I hope I'll manage to finish it.

Anyway, let's shift our focus back to Dark Paladin. As with some of the pieces in the album, Land of Summoned Monsters has quite a lengthy opening segment. I have no qualms about this one, though, as the echoing samples are simply phenomenal and truly set the tone for the main melodic line that appears at around the one-minute mark. It is mostly an ethereal piece, with but a brief burst of drum activity at the two-and-a-half-minute mark, fitting for such a place in the game.

Kain's Betrayal briefly uses Suspicion, keeping the melancholic strings, before launching into a piano arrangament of Land of Dwarves (and by extension, Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY IV). Due to the similarity in the bass part, I find myself remembering Final Fantasy VIII's Find Your Way, which is not a bad thing at all. The mood is certainly fitting. Personally, I would've preferred a bit more of Suspicion and/or the vaguely similar The Red Wings in there, but it's hard to be snarky when the piano arrangement is just so nice...

Finally, we have Golbez and the Darkness. It is quite fascinating how much development Daryl managed to get out of the short and simple theme by masterfully shifting instrumentations and playing with polyphony.

Well, then, that's about it for this update. Until next time!

Fermat's Last Theorem, M.D.

Sound Test Curator